The present invention relates to wristbands, such as those used in hospitals and other facilities, that are worn around the wrist or ankle, for example, of a patient or other user of the facility. The invention also relates to a print medium in which the contour of the wristband is die-cut so that after printing to this die-cut portion the die-cut portion can be removed from the print medium to create the wristband. The invention further relates to a method of creating a wristband using the print medium.
Wristbands displaying personal information such as the patient's name, age, blood type, or the department in which the patient is being treated are commonly used in hospitals and similar facilities to reliably identify individual patients. Such wristbands are wrapped in a circle and typically worn on the patient's wrist or ankle, and once attached are unlikely to come off without being purposely cut.
A web of print media made from a suitable wristband material that is die-cut with the contour of the wristband is used to make such wristbands. This print medium is wound into a roll so that it can be easily loaded into the printer, the personal information is printed onto the die-cut portion of the print medium as it is conveyed from the roll through the printer, and the wristband is then separated from the surrounding waste portion of the print medium by separating the wristband portion from the rest of the print medium along the die cut contour to make a wristband.
Japanese Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2002-363808 describes a print medium (strap material) and a wristband created from the strap material. The web of strap material taught in JP-A-2002-363808 is die-cut to create perforations around the shape of the wristband and then wound into a roll, and the roll is loaded into a printer. After the printer prints specific patient information on the wide part of the die-cut wristband shape, the printed portion is discharged from the paper exit of the printer. A perforation for separating one wristband from the next is formed between the printed die-cut portion and the following die-cut portion that is not yet printed. As a result, the printed portion discharged from the paper exit can easily be manually torn off at the perforation. The wristband-shaped part can then be manually separated from the portion of the strap that was torn off at the perforation and used as a wristband.
When the die-cut wristband shape is manually separated, the starting point is typically the most difficult part to grasp, often resulting in wasted print media (strap material) because the beginning of the wristband is not severed along the die-cut lines, or wasted time in trying to find the starting point of the wristband.
JP-A-2002-363808 addresses this problem by forming a continuous cut line instead of a perforation on at least one part of the die-cut shape. More specifically, the semicircular part at one lengthwise end of the wristband shape is cut continuously around the curve instead of being perforated. As a result, when removing the wristband from the print medium web, the semicircular portion at one end can simply be lifted up and pulled towards the opposite end to easily remove the wristband from the surrounding web.
However, when part of the die-cut shape is cut continuously so that it can be easily lifted up and peeled back, the waste portion may be accidentally peeled back with it, resulting in the next unprinted wristband being separated from the web and wasted. More particularly, when the die-cut print medium is wound into rolls for use, the waste portion at the outside edges of the roll can lift up and be accidentally pulled or folded over. If the print medium becomes curled according to the shape of the roll, the waste portion may accidentally lift off the liner. If this occurs in the vicinity of the wristband portion, a large portion of the desired die-cut portion may be accidentally removed before it can be printed, and is thus wasted. The waste portion that gets folded over may also catch on the print mechanism or transportation mechanism inside the printer and cause a paper jam.